Andromeda and Daisy
Sole Designer
Project Duration - Ongoing
Engine - Unreal
Andromeda and Daisy is a small puzzle platformer game I created as part of a level design class. I enjoyed creating a post-processing effect to make this stand out.My key takeaway from this project was a better understanding of how the Post Process graph in Unreal works.
Visual Effects
Cel Shading
For each pixel, after the lighting has been separated from the based color, its color is limited based on the input values. In this function, the RGB value is split, and each is limited. It is then put back together and returned.
This is the “MF_DivideColor” function used above for each R, G, and B value. The range of values that can be used is calculated, and applied to both the input color and the variety value (referred to as X, 256/X). Once both are in the proper value range, the value is applied by taking the input color and making it one of 256 values. The input color is divide by 256/X, and then rounding. Rounding is what sets it to the proper value. It is then multiplied by 256/X to return it to a value in the 256 range. From there it is converted back into a value between 0 and 1.0, and returned. This consistently limits colors across the screen.
Shadows
Lighting, and therefore shadows, uses the same color limiter, but separately applied to the lighting. This is set to a variety of 10, darkest shadow 0.15, and lightest shadow 0.85 in the above examples.
Outlines
There are 3 outline effects, two of them utilize the custom depth channels so they only show up when playing as a character that can interact with the objects.
Playing as Andromeda, looking at the box that shows up with yellow outlines for Daisy.Below, the ability to change what is outlined by color is demonstrated:
UI
The UI has three states: controlling Daisy, controlling Andromeda, and carrying Andromeda. The map, when pulled up, also reflects this. The map shows the currently controller character slightly larger than the other, and displays them above the other character when they overlap. When Daisy is carrying Andromeda, this is indicated on the map by Andromeda’s icon being significantly smaller and displayed over the upper left of Daisy’s icon.
